Friday, July 1, 2011

John Cusack to Play Edgar Allan Poe

John Cusack, famous for starring in movies like Say Anything, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, and Hot Tub Time Machine, is set to star in a film unlike anything he has ever done before. Cusack has recently wrapped production on a film titled The Raven, in which he plays the famous author Edgar Allan Poe. Cusack’s Poe is searching for a killer whose methods resemImage via Wikipediable his own works.

From SlashFilm: In the gritty thriller, a fictionalized account of the author’s last days, Edgar Allen Poe joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. Directed by James McTeigue (V For Vendetta), the film also stars Alice Eve as Poe’s fiancee, Brendan Gleeson and Oliver Jackson-Cohen.

Poe’s death was as weird and mysterious as anything you might find in one of his horror stories, or a movie like this: In October of 1849, he was found wandering the streets of Baltimore in a delirious and disheveled state, wearing what appeared to be someone else’s clothes. Poe was taken to the hospital, where he died a few days later. On the last night before his death, he kept repeating the name “Reynolds.” Poe never gained enough coherence to explain what had happened to him, and the “Reynolds” in question has never been identified.

The first official photos from the film appeared online this weekend, although they seem nearly identical to other shots – reportedly unofficial – that have been floating around for weeks. There was also talk of a title change, but apparently that has been resolved. Footage will screen at Comic Con and Relativity will present the film at Hall H on July 22.